KITES. 



299 



hooked bill or tlio long-clawed feet. It is, therefore, not ;i little disconcerting to find 

 these rapid and expert Hyers preying chieHy on some of the slowest of existing 

 animals, namely, fresh-water snails. In Florida, Mr. iMaynard found that their food 

 consisted largely of I'onms depressus, while on the Ilio Uruguay I found tlieni eating 

 a sjiecics of Ainpullaria, and at one time shot a specimen as he circled overhead witli 

 a large mollusc of this kind in liis claws. Having observed the facts, it is easy to see 

 the adaptation of the long, slender hook with which the bill is provided, as well as the 

 use of the sharp and lengthened but slightly curved claws; while we have an example 

 of the uncertainty which may attend that kind of reasoning from structure to function, 

 which is, unfortunately, too often ilc]Hn.l(cl u|'om. 



Fin. 140. — Pemis apivorus, bee kite. 



Allied to Rostrliamvs are the species of the American genus, CijmiiHlix, which 

 pass through so many changes of plumage, and are so jjcrplexing in their variations 

 that it would seem unwise for any person without scores or even hundreds of sjieci- 

 mens before him to venture an o])inion as to the actual number of species or geo- 

 grai-hical races. The genus is restricted to tro])ical America, and one species, ('. cai/- 

 ennensis, is the largest of tlie New World kites, approaching the dimensions of Milctts 

 ictiinix of Europe. 



The lioney-buzzard or bee kite, Peniis >fpli-on<», iuh.abiting Europe and Africa, and 

 ranging from the Arctic Circle to the Cape of Good Ilojie, is a bird wliich has charac- 

 ters allying it both to the buzzards an.l to the kites, wliile in many points it differs so 

 decidedly from either that not a few ornithologists make it the type of a distinct sulv 

 familv, Pernina;. 



